Chapter three
I am a (retired) electrician. Occasionally it was necessary to climb into an attic. An attic is a lonely place, dark and dismal and depressing. Sometimes hot, sometimes very hot. And always itchy. On one occasion I was climbing through the attic access entrance when I fell backward and hit my tailbone on a two-by-four. It hurt.
Years later I attended a conference in Abbotsford, BC, Canada. You were a guest speaker. “Does anyone have an injured tail bone?” you asked the audience. I immediately stood, as did others. You told us to do something that would indicate we were healed, like sit down hard or something. I did and I was, not fully but maybe 80%. Within two days I was completely healed. It took weeks to stop bracing myself for pain when getting out of a chair. That was maybe twenty years ago.
A friend and I travelled to Redding, California to visit Bethel. We both wanted a healing. At the last moment my friend flinched, having been told by church friends back home that people visiting Bethel get sick. I lightly chided him, reminding him of my healing. We spent quite a few hours in the small prayer room. I enjoyed walks in the wooded area where I once saw a huge rabbit about the size of a mid-sized dog; I didn’t know our Lord made rabbits that big.
While there, my friend wasn’t sure he got the healing he asked for during saturday’s prayer for the sick. In his condition, running was life threatening, so I said, “Let’s run!”…. which we did in the parking lot. He told me he was going to admonish his friends for spreading false rumours.
It seems there is a campaign against Bethel by those believing Jesus no longer does the spectacular, thus denying ongoing reports from all over the world of miraculous healings. It seems heresy hunters constantly dog you, eager for a miscue they can publish on social media.
A facebook friend, very godly and Christ-centred, shared an anti-Johnson article on her timeline warning christians to steer away from you and Bethel. I commented, telling her the above testimony regarding my tailbone. She suggested – I am sure you heard this before – that my healing was of the devil and meant to deceive me. Yes, even the godly are being infected by these purveyors of absurdities. Sad.
I am sure you don’t need reminding that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” I love the words of Jesus, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” You are in esteemed company.
I blame religion and religionists for the several irrational notions spawned within evangelicalism regarding the healing of the body, mind and soul.
Pardon me, Bill, as I digress to make a declaration aimed at whoever happens to read this material….
THE SAME HOLY SACRIFICE THAT PROCURED THE SALVATION OF OUR ETERNAL SOULS ALSO AND AT THE SAME TIME PROCURRED THE SALVATION OF OUR BODIES, MINDS AND SOULS. MORE THAN 2500 YEARS AGO ISAIAH PROPHESIED JESUS CHRIST WAS 1) “WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS” AND “BRUISED FOR OUR INIQUITIES” AND 2) AMPLIFIED: “SURELY HE HAS BORNE OUR GRIEFS (SICKNESSES, WEAKNESSES, AND DISTRESSES)” AND “BY HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED”.
AS WE MUST ACCEPT CHRIST’S SACRIFICE BY FAITH TO RECEIVE SALVATION FROM HELL AND ENTRANCE INTO HEAVEN, WE MUST LIKEWISE RECEIVE BY FAITH THAT SAME SACRIFICE AS PAYMENT FOR THE HEALING AND HEALTH OF OUR BODIES AND SOULS.
THE GOSPELS REVEAL MANY DISEASES, ETCETERA, ARE ASSOCIATED WITH AND CAUSED BY EVIL SPIRITS. CHRISTIANS WANTING TO SERVE CHRIST EFFECTIVELY AND FULLY MUST LEARN THE AUTHORITY THEY HAVE OVER OUR ENEMY.
Ahhh…. I feel better already.